Scars
by Blanketspace
Summary: Korra traces over Bolin's scars from his old Triple Threat days. Rated M to be safe, angst, pre-established relationship.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything from Avatar or Legend of Korra, including the characters  
**notes**: this is a prompt given to me on tumblr, sorry for the short length. The prompt was "Bolin's scars from Triple Threat hazing" … so yeah

**scars**; by bspace

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They are laying in bed when she asked, fingers trailing down the ghost lines marring his back and shoulders. Passing over knotted and bunched flesh, discolored, marking patterns and memories that weren't hers. There was a shudder of his back, warm to the touch as her nails scraped down the length of his shoulder blade, journeying on the rough slither of scar tissue to his ribs.

"And this one?" Her palm laid flat against the old injury, knowing from healing study and the ugly speckled skin that she was touching an aged burn wound. It took every instinct she had not to lash out in anger, in disgust, offer to dull the jagged reminder labeling his body for him, yet every muscle and nerve thrummed with molten ire.

"Got the numbers wrong one day. Messed up the profits for an entire week." His voice was muffled, murmuring into the pillow as she pressed her body against his back. Her lips brushed across the bare junction of his neck to shoulder, mouthing over hairline figures of white stitches long since healed, while fingers danced along his strong bicep and wandering down to the expanse of his upper abdomen, feeling the protruding bump from one too many broken ribs.

"You were just a kid," she whispered into his shoulder, nose bumping against the small divot between bone and muscle. Her hands felt the expand and contraction of his lungs, the twitch of developed stomach sinew and muscle, and the steady drum of his heartbeat that signified so much more than just life itself to her.

The Earth Bender shifted in her arms, casually lifting the arm settled around his body to turn to face her on the bed, smiling weakly. "Yeah well, this kid had to make money some how and Triple Threat knew how to pay." The corners of his mouth twitched, from what she could tell in the moonlit room they had begun to share, causing her brow to furrow in worry and fingers to tighten along the tapered line of his hips.

As if on cue, like he knew there was no way to continue the conversation without worrying demand; he brought a callused hand to her face, dragging his knuckles along the tanned skin of her cheek before leaning to press a kiss between her brows. Her nose crinkled in reaction, eyes settling on the knotted tissue on his arm and shoulder once more.

"Did Mako ever…?"

"Ever ask?" He pouted. "No, I think he knew. But we had to eat somehow… But I think the time I showed up bloody on the doorstep was when he wanted to go into a real job." The Avatar leaned her face into the coarse brush on her face, bringing her hand from his waist up to clasp at his hand, keeping it close.

Her eyes no longer widened from shock, but settled in a firm glare as her mouth dropped to a stiff line. She didn't want to ever imagine him hurt, never again at least – she had seen it far too much since she came to Republic City, but to think of a sullied past like that? Her heart ached and howled in her breast as her jaw trembled with unspoken phrases of retribution.

"Hey, Bo…. Can you promise me something?" There was a ball in her throat, fighting the urge to speak on topics she knew nothing on.

His body was warm against hers, snuggling just a tad closer to keep their semi-clothed forms comfortable, as he spoke, "Yeah, anything."

"Don't ever put yourself into a situation like that again." There was no argument on that side; she wouldn't stand for it; not as his friend, not as the Avatar, and most certainly not as his lover. Putting one's self into voluntary danger seemed so reckless and trite, but realization spark in the back of her skull at the worry and distress she must cause her loved ones… But for it be proposed so blatantly in her face like this?

"I promise. Though, hanging out with you can be hazardous to my health." He chuckled, wincing as she pinched him in the arm with her free hand.

"You call this hanging out?" She was teasing, her tongue clucking, and lips pursing while her head titled to leave a kiss on the palm of his hand.

"I call this pillow talk, but I was just generalizing."

"Mhmm," she purred, eyes rolling. "Hey… do you want me to..?" Hesitation was ladened in her voice, palm itching at the turn back to the horrendous topic skirting along his skin.

"Heal them? I don't think you could and even if you could, I wouldn't want you to. They're a good reminder about how stupid I am." He shrugged and her breath hitched at the rise and fall of his chest, noting the scars that played and stretched along his skin in the moonlight.

"You aren't stupid, Bo."

He got down on himself so often; not nearly as bad since they started seeing each other but there were even deeper wounds of self-depreciation embedded in muscle memory and mind.

"Well, compared to you…"

"Hey!" If anything earned him a jab in the shoulder, that would be it.

"I'm just joking. You know exactly what I think about you," Bolin laughed, green eyes shimmering at her, trying to tell her the same words he had spoken over and over again – words that she remembered from ages ago, or so it seemed, from the simplest of compliments to the heartfelt affectionate whispers.

"Care to tell me again?" She teased, slipping her hand from his to loop her arm about broad and stock shoulders, pressing her body against the barrel of his chest and placing a kiss across his cheek.

"Nah, I rather show you."

Korra felt the dance of lips on her jawline before his arms encircled her once more, pushing her over and pressing her back into the soft cushion of their bed. Azure eyes met with a shade of evergreen, illuminated with adoration and something hotter – a proof of worth as her hands traced the outline of his shoulders before gripping him by the neck to yank him to clash his lips against hers.

He was eager to stop talking, mouth slanting as his hips settled easily between hers with a groan and she welcomed him like so many times before, wanting and aching. Teeth raked across her bottom lip, giving her a shiver as she arched into his touch, feeling the gouge of his fingers on her hips and tender back muscles from before.

This was natural, this was everything that was right in their world for the moment, with no scars or traumatized pasts of poor mistakes. Her body caved into his, hands moving to card through his hair, fighting to steal every bit of consciousness from him while she could.

Because for the time being, the least she could do would to make him forget.

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**A/N**: Sorry for the short length of this one. It kinda went wild in the Borra tag on tumblr though, so I felt I should post it here.


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